Nothing you can do
by Tripsyr
Summary: Jericho/Female Lone Wanderer named after myself because I couldn't think of a good name. Jericho has always been the biggest asshole in the wasteland. He always had done what he wanted, when he wanted... And no one is ever going to change that. R&R o.O
1. Conflict in the Pub

When that kid first came into town Jericho had to stifle a laugh. He was leaning on the rail outside of Moriarty's bar when he noticed the gates opening at the front of Megaton. A cocky smirk played across the former raider's lips as he watched Lucas Simms hobble his old black ass up the hill ready to dish out his regular town greeting to whoever this idiot wastelander was. He never liked Simms. The man always kept too close of an eye on him, like if he turned his back Jericho would pop a round in the back of his skull.

Not a bad idea actually. Jericho drew on his cigarette and entertained the idea of putting Simms out of his misery while trying to get a look at Megaton's new "Permanent Visitor"… No luck. The old bastard was in the way.

"What the fuck'r you starin' so fixatedly at Simms for?" Colin Moriarty spat in his usual civil manner as he stepped out of the bar on one of his many daily breaks, "Ya turnin' inta a nancy boy on me?"

"Fuck you Moriarty," He didn't even turn to look at the Irish-man just kept staring at the front of the town, "I'm just trying to get a look at who the hell would be dumb enough to visit this shit shack." He flicked the butt of his finished nicotine stick over the rail, letting it land in the pool of irradiated water next to the unexploded atomic bomb below, "But my good buddy Simms over there won't move his ass."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth did Lucas Simms, town sheriff, decide then to turn and point in the direction of the tavern giving everyone who may have been looking clear view of the newcomer.

It was a kid, couldn't have been more than twenty, wearing naught but a blue jumpsuit and a red baseball cap to cover her short blonde hair and armed with little more than a 10mm pistol. Moriarty let out an amused chuckle, "Well you don't see that everyday."

"What," Jericho asked annoyed by the sound of the asshole's voice, "A dumbass in a jumpsuit? Have you ever met Moira?"

"Look she's coming this way," Colin pointed, "That jumpsuit she's wearing. Ya can only get one like that in a Vault… Oh shit," He slinked back towards his bar, "I think I know that kid's father…" With that he slipped around the back of the bar to his usual hiding spot.

Jericho, still watching the kid as she climbed the ramp over the Doc's clinic, shook his head, "A vaultie huh…" He turned, pushing his hands into his pockets and kicking the door open to Moriarty's Saloon, "Won't last a week out in the wastes."

It wasn't long before the chick came shuffling into the bar he had made his home. He didn't have to look very hard to see that the kid was scared out of her wits. He had heard stories of the sheltered little vault dwellers, not able to tell enemies from their asses. Speaking of asses… he wouldn't mind giving that girl a swift smack.

She approached the bar and nearly fell over at the sight of the bartender, "W-what the fuck are you?!" She exclaimed unable to restrain her surprise.

"Looks to me like you've never seen a Ghoul before," the bartender gave her the same exasperated sigh he usually breathed, "The name's Gob."

"I-I'm so sorry," She waved frantically, "Really, I was just surprised. My name's Cassie…" The girl held out a hand. Gob, having never been offered willful contact before, took it hesitantly, "It's nice to meet you!"

Jericho snorted into his drink, "Something funny mister?"

"Yeah," He growled slamming his bottle of scotch onto the bar, "And don't call me Mister I ain't your god damned math teacher," His piercing eyes darted from Gob to the Cassie kid, "Anyway, what I find funny is that you can pretend not to be disgusted by this leathery bag of bones."

"I'm not pretending anything," She shot back annoyed.

"Sure kid, whatever," He laughed again, a little harder this time, "I heard about you little brainwashed, delicate, vault-fucks. You're probably conditioned to be polite to ugly fucks like Gob here."

"I'm not… brainwashed," her hands dropped to her sides and her gaze to the floor, "I'm not."

"Keep telling yourself that kid," Jericho laughed even harder, "You guys are probably nothing more than a bunch of inbred assholes who fuck your own father's for a good---"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING MENTION MY FATHER!" The kid's hand shot to her pistol and aimed it straight at the ex-raider's face, "You don't know shit about me or him. Mention my father again and I'll kill you right here."

Jericho spread his arms wide and walked up so the barrel of the gun pressed up against his forehead, "Ooh did I touch a nerve there? Did I touch it like you're daddy did you?" He could feel the gun shaking against his forehead and saw tears welling up in her eyes.

"Stop it…" She pleaded, it was a whimper really.

"Come on!" He urged her pushing his forehead harder against the barrel of the 10mm pistol, "You said you'd fucking kill me so _do it_." He delighted in watching the tears roll down the frightened girl's cheeks. He won. He won and he knew it, "Thought so." In one fluid motion he grabbed her wrist, putting it behind her and forcing her to drop the gun to the floor with a _thud_ before slamming her face down onto the bar and letting out another deep laugh. She tried to move out from under his body but all she could do was push back into him. Realizing exactly where he was behind her, the girl's face turned a bright embarrassed red.

"All right that's a-fuckin-nuff," Colin had a shotgun trained on the two trouble-makers and a look that suggested he could care less about killing either one of them, "If you're gonna kill each other, do it at the Brass Lantern. I don't want your blood staining my floors. Gob's behind enough on his work already."

Jericho grunted some form of retort but it was too low to make out and he released the girl from his grip. Slowly, Cassie lifted herself from the bar and scooped up her gun from the floor, "You the owner?" Colin nodded, lowering the shotgun, "You mind if we go in the back? I need information."

"You got about a hundred caps?" He asked. The girl nodded and he opened up the door behind the bar, "Come on then, I don't have all day."

Jericho, pissed off for being interrupted, snatched up his bottle of scotch and stomped out of the bar. He hadn't walked ten feet before a familiar voice sounded behind him, "Don't think I didn't see your little spectacle in there raider."

"Ex-Raider. That little 'X' in the beginning means I quit," He turned and glared at Megaton's sheriff, "Anyway that little bitch in there had it coming."

"Look, the kid's been through a lot," Lucas crossed his arms and leaned against the railing outside the saloon, "Do yourself a favor and stay out of trouble."

Jericho knew this was a serious threat. Lucas may have seemed calm and collected but he knew what the sheriff was really saying, "Just give me an excuse to blow you fucking skull off," or something along those lines.

"Look I don't need this shit. All I want to do is go home, drink my fuckin' scotch, and get off thinking about that naïve little vault girl," Lucas made a clicking noise with his tongue and pointed down to the unexploded atomic bomb in the center of town.

"You see that shit?" He growled, "That kid just de-activated that cursed thing for free. Took care of it like it was nothing!"

Jericho said nothing just took a swig of his scotch and listened carefully, "So what, she shuts off a bomb and I'm supposed to act like a fuckin' bitch?

"Whatever Jericho," He shot, "I'm just gonna warn you now. I'm giving the kid that empty house next to yours. If I get a single complaint, anything _at all," Lucas was barely an inch from Jericho's face but the former raider didn't look away. His pride wouldn't let him, "I won't be afraid to pull the trigger."_


	2. Death Wish

When Jericho had left the sheriff's fine company and returned to his disheveled little hellhole, he had done so without letting on that Lucas's words had gotten to him. In fact, the moment he was sure the metal door had shut behind him he threw his bottle clear across the room, shattering it against wall.

"Son of a bitch," He muttered to himself, "If that prick thinks I'll take his bullshit, he has another thing coming." He pulled off his Chinese assault rifle and dropped it on the table before he walked back to his bed and plopped down, resting his head in his hands. Lifting his eyes, he saw a worn down wooden chain with two items atop it.

The first was a teddy bear. A memento from his raider past that _Mister fucking Sheriff _wouldn't let him forget for even a second. The second item, was a gun. A small 10mm handgun with a single round in the chamber. The bear was a reminder, the gun was a promise. If he were ever to use it, it would only be once.

Jericho reached out for the teddy bear and trailed his calloused fingers over the once-soft surface. It was in perfect condition except for two bullet holes in the bears stomach where bits of fluff were poking out. He brought the teddy bear close to his chest as he leaned over, grabbed the handgun and put it to his right temple.

"Now?" Jericho's voice was quiet and somewhat choked, "Are you gonna do it now you fucking pussy?"

He closed his eyes tight and put his finger around the trigger. Flashes of his past raced through his head. Visions of the people he had killed… Men. Women. Children. Those he had once called "friend". He could feel beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead. Was he finally going to hush the cries of terror he heard calling out to him night after night?

He sat like that for hours. He'd done the same thing every week. Jericho forced himself to recall the faces of every single person who's life he had cut short, not for food or out of self defense, but for the sheer thrill. He had, at first, convinced himself that he had liked watching people suffer, stringing women up on chains and watching as their arms and legs were slowly pulled out of their sockets. As time went on he found he really _was _starting to enjoy it. He lived on the pain.

He knew he was a monster. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and he'd be damned if anyone would tell him what to do. The man didn't care who he hurt as long as he got some satisfaction from it. Fuck it. He couldn't kill himself. Not tonight.

He found himself laughing awkwardly, "You really are just a bitch, aren't ya?" He tossed the gun and teddy bear back on the chair and got up, "I need some fresh air…" Angrily, he kicked open his flimsy metal door, leaving a dent near the bottom of it and walked straight to the railing and threw up. He wiped his mouth still staring at the pile of vomit that had somehow managed to land on Mr. Burke's home below.

Looking up, Jericho saw that girl from before. What was her name? Carrie? Casey? Cassie. Whatever.

"Don't mind me princess," He snapped taking his hands off the rail and backing against the wall of his house with his palms flat in the air, signaling that it was safe to pass. The girl looked at him nervously before rustling up enough courage to walk past the man who had humiliated her earlier.

Just when she thought she was in the clear, one of the ex-raider's hands shot out and grabbed her by the wrist, "Wait don't go," He grinned, using his other hand to put a new cigarette in his mouth, "I want to congratulate you." He released her arm and reached for his lighter.

"For what, looking like a complete dumbass in that bar?" Cassie shot back, crossing her arms and vaguely wondering why she was even dignifying this cretin with a response. He said nothing, just looked away and lit his cigarette, "Look, I think you've pissed me off enough today. So if you don't mind, I'm going to check out the house Mr. Simms gave me."

She tried again to leave but he reached out and pulled her back a little closer, "You don't have to be a bitch you know. I heard about the bomb being disarmed and felt like being friendly," He put his arm around her waist and pulled her into him, "You know about being friendly don't you?" He could feel it. The monster was rising up inside him, hungry for her fresh, unmarred flesh.

Her face went pink again and she tried to push away from him but he was too strong. He only needed the one arm to hold her there. Jericho took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled in the kid's face making her cough. He chuckled at the small torment and flicked the half-smoked cigarette away before using his free hand to pull off her baseball cap and toss it to the ground as well, "You have a nice body," he fiddled with the zipper, pulling it down slightly, "You shouldn't hide it under this silly jumpsuit."

Frantically, the girl tried to push away again as the former raider began sliding the vault 101 suit off of her shoulders. Suddenly she stopped struggling. Jericho, confused abandoned tugging at her undershirt and looked into her crystal blue eyes, "What the fuck are you lookin' at?"

"Have you…" She leaned in a bit, examining his face, "Have you been crying?"

"---the fuck?" Where did that come from all of a sudden? "What are you talking about?"

"Your eyes. They're all puffy," Cassie reached up and brushed his cheek with the backs of her fingers, "And your cheeks are damp…"

He reached up and wiped under his eyes to confirm the kid's accusation. Shocked, more than anything, he dropped the girl and pushed her back, "Get the fuck out of here," He gestured violently to his right, "Your place is up that way."

She hesitated, "Are you--"

"I said get the fuck outta here!" He snapped, "You'll have to suck me off some other time!"

"Ugh…" She groaned, snatching her hat up from the ground and zipping up her vault 101 jumpsuit, "You're such an asshole."

He watched her trek up the metal path between their houses and disappear into one of the nicest places in Megaton. He picked up the still-smoldering cigarette from the ground and stuck it back in his mouth.

"Yeah… I guess I am."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_Author's note: I noticed not many people write about Jeri so I decided to put one up…_

_--- In this I decided to make him suicidal because of his past as a raider and Lucas Simms being a dick to him about it all the god damn time (in the theatre of my mind anyway)_

_--- While playing Fallout 3 I'd always break into Jericho's house so that I could give my evil a bit of a boost, and every time I went in there I saw a teddy bear. So that's where that came from._


	3. Dear Daddy aka welcome to the wastes

Jericho looked around to make sure nobody was watching as he jammed the bobby-pin into the lock and reached for his screwdriver. That kid had been gone all week. For all he knew, the bitch was rotting somewhere on the ground being picked apart by wild dogs and mole rats. That sick looking zombie fuck, Gob, had mentioned something about her doing a bunch of suicide missions for Moira for almost no pay whatsoever. Made him sick, really. Nobody should go around doing favors for free.

"Got it," He mumbled twisting the lock to her house and opening the door. He thought maybe he'd loot the place while she was gone. It was her own fault for having such a flimsy lock on her door anyway.

"Good evening sir," An overly-cheerful Mr. Handy robot greeted in a loud booming voice, "I'm afraid madam is not here at this hour and I will have to ask you to vacate the premises."

"Not a chance ya tin can," Jericho crossed his arms. He wasn't leaving, but he wasn't about to piss this thing off either, "The uh… madam or whatever you call her sent me over," If he let on he was an intruder the thing might pull out it's buzz saw or hell knows what else, "She wanted me to come pick up a few things for her."

"My apologies sir, please, go on about your business," One thing he didn't like about these lousy machines was that they were so damn trusting. You could tell them that you were the king of the wastes and they'd treat you like fucking royalty. He watched the thing float off into a closet and made his way upstairs. As long as the robot was downstairs he could take what he wanted without a god damn inquiry.

The top half of the kid's place seemed pretty bare, understandable since she had only been there a couple weeks. Jericho immediately headed to the one of the only rooms on the upper level and swung open the door to reveal a basic wastelander bedroom. A bare, tattered mattress pushed up against the wall next to an empty dresser and a dingy, broken down desk.

He opened the dresser first. It was rare to ever find one with anything in it but it was always worth a look. Nothing there, maybe the desk. He tugged on the drawer but the damn thing was stuck. The ex-raider pulled harder but it still wouldn't budge. Angry he kicked it as hard as he could causing the drawer to splinter with a loud crack and fall out under the desk.

"Is everything alright, sir?" The Mr. Handy robot stalking around below called, their voices always set Jericho's teeth on edge, "Do you require my assistance?"

"No ya fuckin' sack of circuits," He spat back kneeling down to examine the contents of the drawer. There had to be about a thousand caps here, no wonder the drawer didn't want to open, "Huh… what the…" Poking out of the pile of money was what seemed to be the corner of an envelope. Curiosity taking over, he passed up the caps and pulled out the envelope. Inside were a few sheets of paper that appeared to be a letter that the girl had written.

"Dear dad, eh?" He scoffed looking over the first page. It was a letter to her father about all of the shit she'd been through in the past weeks. Amused, he stood and walked over to the bed, stretching out on his back and settling down to see what the wimp was whining to daddy about.

It seemed pretty uninteresting. Some vault commander guy killed some pansy named Jonas and a bunch of other people trying to get outside the pampered place. She had written some stuff about having to gulp down a shit load of irradiated water to the point where she could glow in the dark as one of Moira's wacko experiments. There was crap about how horrible and uncivilized the wasteland was compared to the previous hellhole she'd grown up in. He was just about to put it down when a certain passage caught his eye, _I feel kind of sorry for him dad._

Jericho blinked at the phrase. Felt sorry for who? His eyes wandered back up the page a bit.

_"When I first got into Megaton I met this sheriff and he pointed me towards Moriarty's. He said if anyone would remember if you'd been there it'd be him. I wanted to repay him for helping me but he wouldn't accept my caps, so instead I used all that stuff Jonas taught me to disarm that atomic bomb in the center of town." The way she wrote made it sound like a simple matter._

_"Anyway, I walked into the bar and met my very first ghoul… His name was Gob. He looked kind of Scary but he's really nice to me for some reason."_

"Yeah," Jericho laughed to himself, "Only 'cause he thinks your gullible enough to let him cop a feel."

_"He even gives me discounts on stimpaks! I don't think Moriarty likes it much. I saw him beating Gob the other day for dropping a bottle of whiskey by accident. I feel kind of sorry for him dad."_ So it was Gob she felt sorry for. Despite learning what he wanted to know, he kept reading anyway. _"I wish he'd let me help him."_

_"There's also something else. On my first day in Megaton I met someone. He really pissed me off dad."Hmm… the brat did mention him after all."He said bad things about me and about you. I aimed my gun at his head. I just wanted to scare him a little. I just wanted him to shut his mouth but he got up and practically begged me to kill him. I couldn't do it daddy. It's not like I hadn't killed someone before but those people were trying to kill me! I had no choice then but this guy… I was scared. He grabbed me but Mr. Moriarty stepped in before anything happened." _

_"That's not all daddy. I was on my way to the house Mr. Simms gave me and I heard that guy from the bar shouting about something in the shack near the place. He came outside and threw up over the railing. I tried walking past him but he grabbed me and started yanking off my clothes. I wasn't strong enough to get him off of me but when I look at his face I noticed he was crying."_ He felt some rage building up inside of him, embarrassed that anyone had seen him cry let alone some sissy vault dweller. _"He didn't appear to notice until I said something. Then he got mad and yelled at me. I was too scared to do anything I just ran away… But I can't help but wonder what could make a man like him so sad._

_Oh well, I'm going to a place called Minefield tomorrow. Maybe after that I'll try to find you again._

_Love you,_

_Cassandra."_

Jericho pulled himself into a sitting position, staring at the letter in his hands. Did she pity him, is that why she didn't go running to Simms? And why the hell was she writing letters to a guy who had obviously abandoned her anyway? It didn't make any sense to him.

He stuffed the letter back into its envelope and shoved it in his pocket. The sound of a door swinging open and the clank of boots on a steel floor caused him to jump to his feet.

"Good evening Madam," The robot cheerfully greeted with it's booming, metallic voice, "Your friend has already arrived and is waiting for you upstairs." Great, that god damn tin can gave him away. It wasn't like she wouldn't have noticed him leaving with the girl between the entrance and the stairs but that floating metal bastard didn't have to announce it.

The girl who came up the stairs appeared much different from the mousy, clean, stuck up girl he had met earlier in Moriarty's Saloon. It was the same kid but with some distinct differences. She had seemed to have abandoned her vault 101 jumpsuit in exchange for a well filled out Merc Charmers outfit. She wasn't so clean looking anymore either, she was covered in dirt and dry blood, some of it hers. Her eyes even seemed to be dingy and cold. They seemed so familiar. What had happened to her in just that one week?

"You're that guy from before…" She sounded off to him, he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Her now empty, eyes dropped to the broken drawer and pile of caps at his feet, "Come to rob me?" Cassie lowered her weapon and put it back in it's holster, "Take whatever you want, I won't stop you."

Jericho looked at the kid, then the caps on the floor, "Fuck it. I don't need your caps." He pointed back down to the bed and smirked, "But if I can take anything I want," Maybe some teasing could get her to act like the little kid he knew she was, "Why don't we pick up where we left off?"

"Please… don't," She seemed to be on the verge of tears, "I just came across a raider camp on the way here and the last thing I need is to be raped by one of them."

"Hey I'm not a fuckin' raider anymore," He growled grabbing her by the throat and putting her against the wall, "That was a long time ago," His grip tightened, "Got it?" She nodded, "And besides," The older man's hand left her throat and his fingers trailed down to the edge of her pants, "It wouldn't be too bad, would it, fucking somebody like me?" He leaned in and nipped playfully at her neck.

The girl closed her eyes. In truth, she wanted him to keep touching her. Rough, gentle, it didn't matter but she knew it'd be wrong. She'd only be using him like he wanted to use her that night she'd caught him crying. She wanted to do anything and everything to forget the last week of her life. But getting lost in the arms of a man she'd normally avoid at all costs seemed wrong, "Get out."

They were both silent for a while, she knew she had to be as far away from this dangerous person for as long as it would take for the girl to get her head straight, "You may not be a raider anymore… but you were once. So that means you must have done horrible things to people," Jericho jerked back. "I can't stand people like you."

"Look bitch, I'm just trying to throw your sad ass a mercy lay," he shoved his hand in his pocket and produced the envelope, "I may be a bad guy but at least my life is a little less pathetic than yours." With that he tossed the envelope at the girl and stormed down the stairs.

"My word sir," The robot thingy floated over, "You did sound ever so cross towards my mistress. I do hope you two aren't fighting."

"Get the fuck out of my way you useless pile of scrap," Jericho kicked the robot out of his way and pushed through the front door.

Safely outside he took a deep breath of the poisoned air, and rummaged around in his pockets for his cigarettes. Dumb bitch. Just because he used to be a raider doesn't mean he was proud of it.

And that girl was practically begging to be fucked. Maybe not with her mouth but with her body and with her eyes. Those chilling, dulled eyes. It clicked in his head where he had seen them before. They looked exactly as his eyes looked when he took his first innocent life at the age of fourteen. That was it, wasn't it? Sometime during her trip to Minefield that little cock tease of a vaultie had taken an innocent life.

He took one last look at the girl's house before retreating into his home to perform his weekly ritual.

"Welcome to the wastes."

_______________________________

Author's note: I'm kind of nervous about this chapter... I was working on lack of sleep and didn't really go back to look over what i wrote. :3

The innocent person I refer to in this chapter is most likely Arkansas in Minefield. Sure he attacks you first, but when you think about it he probably just thought you were a slaver come to claim him. (if you don't know what i'm referring to... google it)


	4. A shot rang out in Megaton at midday

"PUT IT AWAY OR I'LL CHOP IT OFF!" Colin shouted brandishing a combat knife in the direction of a seriously drunk ex-raider, "This ain't yer god damn personal piss bucket," he motioned to the door with the knife and grinned, "If ya do have to relieve yerself I'd do it over the heads of those bomb worshipping fucks outside."

Jericho stood there staring at Moriarty with his dick in his hand while his brain took it's time to register the owner's words before nodding and staggering out the front door, bumping into the vault dweller as she made her way in.

"Wash ett bitch…" He slurred despite the collision being his fault. Cassie just ignored him, rolling her eyes, as she approached the bar.

"Hey Gob," She said cheerfully slapping fifty caps onto the table, "I'd like to buy a bit of information off of you." As the ghoul reached for the small sum of caps his hand was smacked, rather forcefully, away by Moriarty.

"If it's information ya want, you'll get it from me. Gob has some cleaning to do upstairs," He snapped shooting a 'Get your ass outta here' look, "And it'll be a hundred caps," With a sigh she reached in her pack and slammed another fifty caps onto the bar, "What do you want to know?"

"I'm going to look for Three Dog," She would've preferred talking to Gob over this slimy dick weed but felt that requesting him specifically could result in his being beaten yet again, "If my dad isn't with him then he might know where he went."

"Oh, leavin' us so soon lass?" He drummed his fingers impatiently on the bar table as he slipped the combat knife back into its sheath, "Get to the fuckin' point. I can't keep that rotting bastard away from the bar all day," The girl clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes, a gesture that did nothing to sweeten the attitude of the old Irish-man, "Either ask yer question or get the fuck out."

"I need a body-guard," She said simply, "Everyone I've talked to says that the way to the Galaxy News Radio building is riddled with ferals and super mutants. I'll never make it on my own," The girl leaned over the bar the way she had seen Nova do it whenever she wanted to get the most out of a customer, "You don't think there's anyone around _here_ who'd be willing to help me out, do you?"

The old bar owner turned a slight pink and scooped up the little pile of caps, "Well, if yer looking for an experienced wastelander… I'd put my caps on Jericho."

Cassie stood straight and scrunched her eyebrows, "Jericho? Is that the one with the bandana and the kid?"

"Nah, that's Billy Creel," He laughed, "Ya can't tell me ya don't know him, he just passed ya a minute ago."

Her eyes grew wide at the realization of who he had suggested, "_HIM?_" She looked over her shoulder to the doorway they'd passed each other at, "That vulgar, rude, arrogant," the kid found herself running out of words, "_ASSHOLE?_"

"Well he may be the biggest prick in Megaton, but he'll get the job done," Moriarty smirked and turned to walk to the back room, "Look lass ya paid me fer information," He hesitated at the door, "Ya never said it had to be info ya liked…" Before retiring to his favorite hiding spot he made sure to call down his favorite whipping boy, "GOB, GET YER ASS BACK DOWN HERE AND WATCH THE FUCKIN' BAR!"

The ghoul was downstairs in a matter of seconds, apparently having been on the stairs listening rather than doing whatever cleaning Moriarty said he was supposed to do, "Is he bullshitting me Gob?" Cassie whispered as the ghoul retook his regular position behind the cash register, "Is that guy my best shot at surviving the trip to the GNR building?"

Gob looked around shiftily and leaned in, "Well he did used to be a raider, and those guys are practically experts on getting around the wastes."

The lone wanderer shrugged her shoulders and looked back at the door again, "Well… If I have no choice…" She waved at Gob and walked outside Moriarty's Saloon expected to be greeted by the sight of the man, who's name she now knew to be Jericho, pissing on the head of some religious fanatic who'd probably refer to the act as, "A divine blessing from the great Atom."

However, when she stepped out there was no one, "He must have gone home…"

Despite his house being so close to the pub, it took Cassie twenty minutes to get at least half way there. She was debating whether or not she should ask him to join her.

On one hand, she was desperate to see her father again. She had so many questions for him like why he had left her, what was so god damn important, and how he possibly thought that the Overseer would refrain from taking things out on her after he escaped the vault.

On the other hand, that man had pissed her off since the first moment they met. He had tried to _do_ things to her, he'd broken into her house, and he had seen that letter she had written. Sure, she had only written it as a way to let off steam but it wasn't ever meant to be read by anyone, let alone someone like _him._

_The girl swallowed hard. She had to ask, after that week she had spent in the wastes by herself she knew there was no way that she could last out there on her own._

_When she got to Jericho's house she heard muffled noises from within. Putting her ear to the door she could hear the hushed sound of Jericho's voice, "I can't do this shit anymore…" Who was he talking to?_

"_These days are getting longer and every single one of them is the same," no one was answering him… was he speaking to himself? "If I keep this up I'll end up drowning in that shit hole of a bar," She heard him laugh, "I'll prob'ly be doin' everyone a favor… Yeah… a favor…"_

"_Mr. Jericho?" Cassie called out softly, pushing the door open. Her eyes shot open wide as they fell upon the sight of a man holding a teddy bear in one hand and a pistol to his head in the other. Without thinking she lunged forward just as he pulled the trigger._

_A shot rang through the town of Megaton at midday. _


	5. 1000 caps

Jericho looked at the kid in amazement, ignoring the painful wound on his right ear from where the bullet had grazed him.

He'd pulled the trigger. After all these years, he'd taken aim at his head, made peace with himself, and pulled the trigger with every intention of splattering his grey matter across the shoddily put together walls of his filthy metallic shack.

The girl was breathing heavily, as if it were her who had the gun to her head instead of him. She had her arm out. Her hand was still on his wrist. She was shaking and it seemed like if she'd let go she'd collapse to the floor.

Somehow, she found the strength to straighten herself up and asked very calmly, "Are there any more bullets left?" He shook his head, still too shocked to speak, "Good." Cassie raised her hand and brought it down hard on the back of the older man's head, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

The smack seemed to be just the thing to snap him out of the shocked state he was in as he jumped to his feet and growled, "What the hell were _you_ thinking? You think it's wise breaking into my house?"

"You're one to talk," She spat shoving him back down onto the bed. It wouldn't be easy to look down on him with him towering over her, "And what was with the gun? Did you think, 'Hmm… I'm hungry. Maybe I'll go home and bite down on a bullet.' You're supposed to be some badass raider guy not some pussy who takes the easy way out."

"I TOLD YOU," He shouted back, "I'M NOT A FUCKIN' RAIDER!" Sick of this kid thinking she could push him around, Jericho raised his leg and kicked her in the stomach, sending her into the chair. He stood up and went into his main room to grab his assault rifle off the table and aim it back at the girl he just forced to gasp for air, "What the fuck are you doing here kid?"

Cassie coughed, clutching her stomach where he had kicked it and hoping that he hadn't broken anything, "I…" she wheezed, "Came here… to h-hire you…"

He slid the rifle into his back holster and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, "Hire me," He shook his head. "Somehow I don't believe you."

The girl staggered to her feet, what a weakling, "I'm serious. I want your help."

"Why should I help you?" He hissed crushing the empty cigarette box, another disappointment in his day.

"Because, I just saved your life," Jericho shook his head and turned to face his dented front door, "Hey don't turn your back on me!" The kid reached out for his shoulder and guided him to face her again.

"I never asked to be saved… And you wanting my help is hilarious. Ha fuckin' ha kid," However, upon saying this an idea struck the former raider, "However… If you _really_ want me to help you out…" He grabbed the girl by the shoulders and pushed her back against the wall.

"No, Jericho… anything else… just not that…" She wouldn't even look him in the eye. She just kept her gaze to the teddy bear lying on the floor, cast away when Jericho had jumped to his feet before. And when did she learn his name anyway? It wasn't fair… saying his name like that.

"Fine," He grit his teeth and released her, "Instead," he backed up, giving her room to breathe, "Tell me something."

Cassie blinked, unable to believe that he'd release her without hurting her or yelling at her for something, "S-sure… What do you want to know?"

"Who did you kill when you went to Minefield?"

"W-what?" It was such an odd question. Out of all the things he could have asked… "I told you, I killed a bunch of raiders." Her gaze dropped. She was lying and he knew why.

"No, I'm not talking about them," He grabbed her chin and pulled her eyes upwards, forcing her to look at him, "I'm talking about the other person you killed… The _innocent_ one."

Her eyes began to get red, like she was holding back tears because she didn't want him to see her be weak and cry, "I-I didn't---"

"Cut the bullshit," He growled, "I could see it all over your face when you got back. You killed someone. Someone you think didn't deserve to die."

"But I did---"

"Don't you fuckin' lie to me kid," Her eyes finally couldn't handle the pressure building up anymore and a couple tears escaped her and her lips began to tremble.

"He was an old man… holed up in Minefield," Her voice was quiet and shaky, "He shot at me first… he was just scared…" She ran her fingers through her hair nervously as she recalled what had happened, "I tried to sneak up on him but he caught me and held his rifle right to my head, but he was out of ammo," the tears were leaving trail marks down her cheeks, "I could have let him go. I never would have seen him again… I don't know…" She seemed to be using the wall for support now.

"You shot him anyway?" Jericho finished, "So what?"

"W-What?"

"I said 'So what?' Your survival instinct took over," The girl looked at him confused, like she had expected to be shunned by someone who used to go around the wastelands killing for fun, "He could've had a fuckin' knife. You didn't know," He didn't know why he was helping the girl justify her actions but he felt he just _had to. Maybe it was his bizarre way of thanking her for stopping him from shooting himself, "If you'd have hesitated he prob'ly would have grabbed your gun and killed you with that!"_

"I… I hadn't thought of that," Cassie seemed relieved and a hell of a lot less shaky.

"What did you want my help with anyway?" He asked, vaguely remembering that she had a request for him.

"Oh… Um…" She stood next to him and held up her pip-boy 3000 which was housing the image of a map of the capital wasteland. The girl pointed it all the way to where the GNR building was located, "I need an escort to here."

"And you need me to keep an eye on your vault pampered ass?"

Normally, this was the part where she'd get all huffy and make an attempt to storm off but instead she smiled slyly, "Basically yeah," The kid put away her display and placed her hands on her hips, "And you can stop pretending to be such an asshole."

"What do you mean pretending?" Jericho raised an eyebrow to the girl's change in attitude towards him.

"I know you were just saying those things to cheer me up," She poked his chest like a little kid teasing and grinned, "So, are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll come…" He answered, opening his door and stepping outside, "Just as soon as you give me one thousand caps for supplies."

The lone wanderer who, with the addition of Jericho, wasn't so alone anymore, stood in his disheveled shack, dumbstruck.

"…Asshole."


	6. Centaurs DO have creepy tongues

Watching the skull of a super mutant split into little tiny pieces was just the thing Jericho had been missing since his retirement from the life of a murderous wasteland wanderer. He took delight in feeling a small spray of massively irradiated blood splash across his face and let out a victory cheer as the hulking creature's headless body fell to his feet. He kicked it and glanced over to see how the kid was doing with her mark.

They had been ambushed by what was probably just a super mutant scout as there was only one super mutant accompanied by just one of those centaur things. It had been her first real encounter with a super mutant and her reaction was one you'd expect from someone who had been holed up her entire life. She fell on her ass.

When he checked back to see how she had handled the centaur, it was all he could do not to burst out laughing. She had killed it, but the damn thing was still twitching which had apparently freaked out the vaultie who, in her panic, was furiously beating the dead creature with a bat.

She caught him staring at her with his hand clamped over his mouth in order to stop himself from laughing his head off at her frightened assault on the dead super mutant bloodhound, "Don't you dare laugh at me old man!" Cassie swung her bat back over her shoulder and backed away from the lifeless centaur, "You said the super mutants were ugly but you could've warned me about these creepy things! NOTHING should have three tongues"

"I thought you'd like a little extra tongue," He chuckled bending down to relieve the super mutant of his hunting rifle and ammunition, "Muties may not be the smartest cock suckers around but they'll notice when there faceless friend and his adorable puppy don't come back. We have to keep moving." He tossed the rifle to the kid and dusted himself off, "Take that. It'll do better damage that that little pea shooter and a crappy wooden bat," He coughed slightly, it'd been a while since he had a good smoke, "You do know how to use that don't ya?"

"Yeah, I used to have a BB gun sort of like this when I was a kid," A look on nostalgia played across her face for a moment before she snapped back to the present, "A-anyway, we have to find that tunnel access."

"Uh… kid."

"Hold on a sec," She consulted her pip-boy, "According to this, we're not too far from a metro tunnel that'll take us out to a place called… Chevy?"

"Hey, kid look over there."

"In a minute, I'm trying to figure out how far we are from the tunnel…" Jericho let out a shrill whistle to get the kid's attention and pointed to a small hill sticking out of the ground with a busted-looking metal door marked, "METRO TUNNEL ACCESS."

Her face turned red and she let out a nervous laugh, "I guess we weren't that far were we? Heh… heh… *cough*"

He rolled his eyes and walked over to the access point. He'd only been out on the road with this kid for about four hours. She seemed to think that because they were traveling together now he wasn't such a bad guy. Like all sins are washed away because he was under her employ. Naïve little girl.

He pulled at the door, but the thing seemed to either be locked or rusted shut from years of neglect out in the wasteland. Annoyed and not wanting to waste energy trying to get the damn thing open, he decided to waste ammunition instead. He pulled out his Chinese assault rifle and unloaded a clip on the door, laughing maniacally as he did so before trying to open the door again… Still couldn't pull it open.

"What the fuck?" He growled, putting a leg up next to the door and pulling even harder, "This damn thing's wired shut! We'll have to find another access point."

The kid started giggling uncontrollably, "The fuck you on about?" He hissed releasing his grip on the door. She stopped laughing, straightened up, and tried to keep on a serious face as she stepped up to the door, grabbed the handle, turned it, and _pushed_ before bursting out in girlish laughter again.

"Shall we?" Cassie was still giggling as she skipped inside the dark entrance to the metro system. Jericho glared at her but said nothing, following her into the tunnel. Shutting the door behind them may not have been the best idea, the tunnel was pitch black and smelled damp.

"Hey kid, ya got a light on that computer thing of yours?" Jericho reached around blindly, groping around in the darkness. He stepped on something round, probably an old tin can, and found himself falling on top of something small and fleshy, "Well, well…" He grinned wickedly, not that anyone could see him ginning in this darkness, "What a position you've found yourself in kid." The person below him, wrapped their arms behind his neck and tried to pull him down aggressively, "Heh, I knew you wanted me kid," He chuckled, "Easier to admit it to yourself in the dark is it?"

A faint buzzing sound, amplified by the metallic walls, sounded from behind him and a faint blue glow illuminated the area. Jericho's eyes shot back to see the girl waving her pip-boy 3000 with an irritated expression on her face. He looked back down to see the figure that had been holding him and flailed as he flung himself off of the thing.

The feral ghoul got to its feet with a hiss and lunged for Jericho again, "GOD DAMN SHUFFLER FUCK!" He grabbed it around the throat and held it at arms length as his other hand reached for his side arm. He unloaded about six shots into the things face, effectively silencing the rabid ghoul.

Holstering his gun he shot a venomous glare at his employer who just crossed her arms and flashed him a sinister look, "So, you really _do_ have a thing for ghouls… What was it you said?" She stepped over the rotting zombie-like carcass lighting the way through the metro tunnel with her little Vault-Tec device.

"Easier to admit it to yourself in the dark."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Author's note: I wanted to take a break from uber seriousness for this chapter and instead bring you some minute silliness.

The way things look, I'll probably go through the whole Fallout 3 game. Oh well, I don't mind it…

Special thanks to R.G. who puts up with my constant ramblings about the Fallout 3 universe. Also thank you Kasia and Miss. Your comments built my confidence in my writing abilities… YOU WIN A COOKIE!

One more thing: My birthday is on the 8th of July, so if I don't update, don't take it as a sign of me giving up… I'll see this thing through 'til the end.


	7. Monsters

They'd been lost for days and Jericho was beginning to wonder whether or not Cassie knew what the hell she was doing let alone where the fuck they were. He should have known better than to agree on going on a road trip with some inexperienced, trusting goody two-shoes with a daddy complex.

They had tired themselves out killing loud mouthed raiders and feral zombie assholes and trying to navigate the old collapsed subway systems. It seemed that the best course of action would be to set up camp and rest until what they hoped would be morning. They chose a simple corner of one of those metro intersections and put their backs to one of the abandoned trains to prevent anyone from sneaking up on them.

"Have you ever been to the DC ruins before?" She asked, plopping her ass down and pulling out a few bottles of irradiated water and a box of detergent from her pack.

Jericho shrugged his shoulders and kicked at one of the charred skeletons that littered the station floors, "A couple times… back when I was a… when I was younger." He almost said raider… almost.

The girl had about six bottles of irradiated water out now and rose to her feet, "Um…" She asked nervously, "Do you mind turning around?"

"What the fuck would I turn around for?" He snapped clenching his hands tighter around his assault rifle that he had not yet holstered.

"Well, I haven't had a bath in five days," Her eyes dropped to the bottles of water as she sheepishly tugged at the sleeve of her charmer outfit, "I was kind of hoping I could wash up."

"Look princess, the wasteland's a dirty place. Get used to it," Jericho glared at her through the blue glow of her pip-boy but his mouth went dry as she reached into her pocket and produced a small shabby looking box, "Where did you find those?"

"Oh these?" She waved the box of cigarettes and grinned, "I pulled them off of that raider we popped yesterday… You're out of cigarettes aren't you? Hmm…" Fuck the sweet and innocent act, this girl was pure evil.

"You bitch, that's a low blow," He let go of his assault rifle and held it with one hand as he swiped the pack of cigarettes and checked inside to make sure she wasn't cheating him with some empty thing she'd found on the ground somewhere, there were eleven cigarettes inside, "Whatever, wash what you want," he muttered popping one into his mouth and turning around, "It's a waste of water though."

"No peeking," The girl said in a mocking tone as she loosened the straps on her gear and began shedding her armor. He listened to the sound of her clothes hitting the floor with a soft _plunk_.

He kept his eyes fixed forward on the faintly illuminated ruins of the metro and tried not to think of the scene unfolding behind him, but that almost never works. By now she had pulled off her underclothes and was probably completely naked, illuminated in that pale blue light. He could hear water trickling to the floor and had to bite down on his unlit cigarette to keep from exhaling an excessively loud sigh.

Jericho chanced a glance back over his shoulder, the kid had her back to him. With one hand she was pouring soapy water over her head and with the other she was trying to wipe away the dirt and grime of the wasteland. He stood there, fully turned now, watching her as she carefully returned her skin to the condition it had been in when he'd first saw her, realizing just how beautiful fresh and clean flesh could look.

There was a loud clatter sound followed by a surge of bullets that seriously fucked up the abandoned train, busted a couple bottles of water, and caused the young naked vault dweller to jump about five feet into the air, "SHIT!"

At some point, while watching the girl, his fingers had relaxed and allowed the Chinese assault rifle to fall from Jericho's grip. Without hesitation, the girl spun around and marched up to the older man, delivering a loud smack to the left side of his head and forcing the cigarette to fly away into the darkness.

"WHAT THE FUCK PRINCESS?!" he shouted rubbing the spot where she had struck him.

"DON'T YOU WHAT THE FUCK ME YOU DIRTY OLD BASTARD!" She shouted landing a hit on his arm in accompaniment with the last three words, "YOU SHOT AT ME! AND YOU WERE PEEKING! I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK!" At that moment, it seemed she had noticed that she was still quite naked and vulnerable. She made a noise like an annoyed mole rat and turned to snatch up her underclothes. However, the girl could have used a better method for collecting her clothes because when she had turned, she had turned… and bent over.

Unable to resist the urge, Jericho raised up a hand and brought it down with enough force to make the sound of flesh hitting flesh echo through the metro station. The girl snapped up, her face as red as the hand shaped mark on her ass, and looked at him with eyes that said, '_You did not just fucking do that_'.

He just laughed and returned it with a, '_Yes I did and there's not a god damn thing you're gonna do about it is there?'_, look. She huffed and pulled on her under garments. Her ass was sore where he'd slapped it but it melted into a comfortable heat soon enough. Which is more than could be said for the air between them as the night dragged on.

The vaultie had made sure to be at least twenty feet from her assailant at all times and every time he had tried to make eye contact she'd shoot him a pissed off and pretentious look and vigorously begin cleaning her weaponry.

_Stupid kid,_ It had been a couple hours since the incident and the kid was still being bitchy. If she didn't want to fall asleep around him, fine. That didn't mean he had to stay awake and be miserable. He stretched out on the cold, hard, cracked metro floor and stared up into the dark abyss of a ceiling, pretending he could see stars on it and vaguely wondering if it had decayed to the point where it would fall down and crush him while he slept.

Jericho couldn't tell you when he'd fallen asleep. He wasn't even sure of it himself. There he was, twenty-five years old again. He was on his way to a place where his friend Slader had said he'd seen some people hiding out. Said it was some sort of school near Megaton.

His friends had left three days before him while he stayed behind to set up traps in case anyone walked into their camp while they were gone. When he had arrived he was greeted by Slader and some newbie named Tiff.

"Hope you saved me a bit of fun," Jericho had said slinging his brand new Chinese assault rifle over his back as he approached a large building with a sign that had the name SPRINGVALE printed across it.

"Where the fuck were you Jerri?" Slader barked with a wicked grin spread across his fat grubby little face, "You missed all the action!"

"Fuck you too Slader," He laughed slapping his friend on the back, "Come on you had to leave me _something_ to play with!"

"Well…" He looked from left to right, and leaned in, "Yeeeeeah…" The fat bastard nudged him in the ribs, "A real fuckin' pretty one too," He let out a sharp cackle, "But I hope you don't mind sloppy seconds… or fourths… or tenths…"

"Yeah, yeah… shut it…" Jericho snapped, "Pussy's still pussy. She just better not be some ugly pig like that chick from Canterberry Commons. I'll skip fucking her and just end her if it's another one like that."

"Whatever man, this one's sweet," Slader gestured emphatically with his hands, "The real _school girl_ type, if you know what I mean," The girl Tiff shot him a twisted grin and Slader waved at the door, "She's in a room on the second floor, man."

As Jericho headed inside he heard the woman say something like, "You men and your fantasies…"

He got to the second floor where he saw another raider guarding a door, "Hey Jerri, what the fuck took ya, get your dick caught in a bear trap?"

He just flipped the guard off and laughed, "Not a bear trap, but it's about to be caught in something, I'll tell ya that."

The guard laughed and walked off to give Jericho some privacy while he had his _fun_.

He kicked open the door and reached around the wall until he found a light switch. The young raider flipped it on with a wide grin and looked around the room for his victim.

He found her.

She was naked, crying in a corner next to a couple freshly killed bodies, clutching onto her teddy bear for dear life. Jericho's face fell like an atomic bomb. This kid couldn't have been more than six years old. Slader had said she was the school girl type. He thought the fat fucking bastard had meant it as a joke because she was holed up in a school.

He couldn't bare to look at this child. She was sitting there, hiding her body with the teddy bear. She was covered in blood and bruised in all the wrong places. But what killed him most of all were her eyes, those broken crystal blue eyes. They were empty. Slader and those other sick raider fucks had raped the humanity out of her.

Jericho walked over to her slowly and knelt down. The little girl pulled the teddy bear closer to her body and backed up further into the bodies, shaking her head and whimpering like a wounded animal, "I'm not going to hurt you," He said softly pulling his handgun out of it's holster and checked the cartridge. Three bullets left.

The girl stopped making those little whimpering noises and sniffled, "In fact I'm going to get you out of this place." He offered her a shaky smile, "If you hold that teddy you got there over your eyes and wish _really _hard," He choked as he said the words, "You'll wake up in a beautiful place," The little girl nodded and put the teddy bear over her face, "There are trees… and clean water," He raise the 10mm pistol, "there are rivers of Nuka Cola," He cocked it, "…and no more monsters."

Two shots rang out causing Slader, Tiff, and the other raider to run up to the second floor. When they got there Jericho was exiting holstering his 10mm and holding a teddy bear, crying.

"Dude, what the fuck happened?!" Slader shouted, "You fuckin' retarded or something? What you kill the kid for we could've gotten a ton of caps for her from the slavers!"

Jericho didn't answer, he reached over his shoulder with his free right hand and pulled out his Chinese assault rifle. Then with that one hand, unloaded every last bullet he had on the three raiders in front of him. He put the gun away and wiped the tears from his eyes.

He still had one bullet left in that 10mm pistol of his and the newly retired raider seriously considered using it, "I promised you no more monsters," he muttered to himself, walking over the obliterated bodies of his former comrades, "Maybe I'll keep it someday."

Jericho woke with a start, feeling a hand on his leg, "You okay?" He sat up groggily gazing into the crystal blue eyes of the little vault kid, "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

He put a hand on Cassie's and gave a weak grin, "Nah, it wasn't no nightmare. I was just dreaming of that sweet ass of yours." He waited for her to shove him, to call him an asshole or a sick fuck, but she just sat there looking at him with those damn eyes.

"It's not hard to see you aren't being sincere Jericho…" She said quietly before standing up, "What were you dreaming about… _really?"_

_He shrugged his shoulders and grunted as he climbed to his feet, "Nothing…"_

"_Just monsters."_

_____________________________

_Authors note:_

_Started out without the seriousness then took a dark ass turn wouldn't ya say?_

_Um... wow..._

_I'll update A.S.A.P._


	8. Reddin went SPLAT

"Oh, I never thought I'd see that again," Cassie practically darted out of the metro tunnel the moment she saw those cracks of burning sunlight peeking through the decaying gates of the metro. The girl stretched and smiled as the warm sunlight seemed to bring color back to her face.

"Hold onto that celebration for now kid," Jericho snapped looking around to see if any big bad mutants were lurking around the area, something the kid had failed to do when she had rushed into the open, "Check your arm. Are we even in the right place?"

She looked around, "Hmm… broken buildings, cracked streets," She shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head innocently, "Looks like the right place."

"Cut the shit kid and look at your damn arm," He spat, he was still sure that there had to be some form of enemy close by, "I don't want to find out we've wound up in the wrong place aga----DUCK!" He pushed the girl down, rather forcefully, by the top of her head and fired off a few rounds at a super mutant that had wandered up to the escalator stairs outside the metro.

The hulking mass roared out in pain before being silenced and tumbling down the stairs. The girl, still kneeling, turned to look at the dead mutie that had slid down behind her. Falling to her hands and knees, she crawled over and jabbed her finger into it's side before deciding it was dead and stealing it's ammunition, "Well that was lucky, I was almost out of rifle ammo."

"What do you mean lucky?" He released a frustrated kick in the deformed fuck wad's face, "Finding muties is in no way lucky. Now will you look at your mother fuckin' wrist watch or whatever the fuck that pippin' shit is and tell us where the hell we are?!"

Cassie rose to her feet and sniffled disapprovingly before complying, "We're in DC… but we came out a little further south than I would have liked. Come on," She slung her pack over her shoulder and pulled out her rifle for protection, "We can probably still get to Galaxy News before dark," The girl stopped and looked back at him before adding in a bitchy tone, "If _that's_ all right with _you_."

"Whatever, fuck kid…" He sighed trudging up the stairs after her, "I just thought you'd want to get a move on lookin' for your pops."

As they were walking around, _silently_ because the girl always gave him the silent treatment whenever she was pissed off, Jericho's mind had time to wander. He thought of that nightmare he had in the Metro sending an involuntary shake through his body. He must have been getting old, dreaming of the past was the sort of thing you did when you were old man, or at least, that's what Nathan was always whining about whenever he wasn't gushing over the fucking Enclave.

It made him wonder. Why did Cassie choose an old man like him to accompany her? There were plenty of people wandering around Megaton who would have went with her for less than the thousand caps she paid him. Perhaps he wasn't her first choice. Maybe she only asked him to be her escort because of the situation she'd found him in.

Did this little snot-nosed brat pity him?

"I don't need your fucking pity you know." He mumbled from behind her. She didn't stop, she either didn't hear him or was pretending not to. Instead of letting it drop he called out a little louder, "I'm babysitting your ass not the other way around."

The girl stopped and waved her hand, "Shut up a minute."

The nerve of this little cunt! "I don't care who you are princess you don't fucking tell me to-"

"Sh!" The girl spun around and put her fingers to his lips before pointing over to two super mutants having an altercation with some armored guys with some pretty top-notch equipment, "Who are those guys?" She whispered removing her fingers from his lips, "Are they friendly?"

He hesitated for a moment to get a good look at them, "Psh… Brotherhood of Steel… Yeah they're friendly-ish."

"Good enough for me," She jumped out and ran up to the Brotherhood members as they finished off the muties with ease, "Hey! HOLD UP A SECOND!"

"Damn it kid, that doesn't mean they won't shoot at you!" He rushed out after her, silently thanking whatever deities happened to be left in that irradiated sky that the BOS put their weapons away instead of picking them off like flies.

She stopped in front of another blonde woman who seemed to be in charge. Great, another chick with a superiority complex.

"Yeah, hi," Cassie seemed giddy to see other people out on the wasteland who weren't trying to kill them, "Do you happen to know where the GNR building is? It stands for Gal-"

"I know what it stands for," The blonde woman in the power armor cut her off with a rather annoyed tone, "Yeah we're on our way there now and don't have time to be talking to some uneducated wastelander."

The vault dweller blinked at the rude response and chose to ignore it, "Okay… Well, do you mind if we tag along? We're kind of lost."

The knight shrugged, "I'm too busy looking after my own men to watch you and your dad's asses. If you want to follow us then fine but don't expect us to shed a tear when you get yourselves shot."

This lady was really beginning to piss him off, "Look you tin-plated bitch I-" He was cut off by the girls hands clamping over his mouth and her laughing nervously.

"That's okay by me," Why was she letting this bitch treat her like this? If he had said something like that Cassie would've smacked him and refused to speak to him for a few hours, "But don't think we can't take care of ourselves," She slowly removed her hands from Jericho's mouth and gave him a look that said, '_Keep your mouth shut, would ya?_', "We may end up being the ones who save you." She turned and offered the Knight a cheerful smile.

The woman seemed offended by the idea of being saved by a couple of shabby-looking wanderers, but just laughed it off, "That'll be that day… Whatever, let's get moving." She motioned for her paladins to follow and headed off deeper into the ruins.

Jericho was surprised at how close they actually were. There were a few muties on the way but the brotherhood knights made quick work of them, he couldn't even pop a round off.

Eventually, they came to clearing, well not a clearing, but a clearer part of the ruins with a fountain standing out in front of a massive building with a radio tower and the letters GNR standing out clear as day.

The kid couldn't help but let out a cheer as her eyes settled on the building.

The woman, Sentinel Sarah Lyons, ordered her troops to spread out and secure the area, "Vargas," She motioned by the doors, "Over there. Initiate Reddin, ove--" Before she could even get the words out of her mouth the largest super mutant Jericho had ever seen busted through a barricade of cars and slammed his giant makeshift sledgehammer down on the one they called 'Reddin'.

The slam of his weapon made the ground shake and knocked everyone off balance, Cassie ended up on her ass, her eyes as big as saucers, "W-what the hell? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Jericho pulled back, along with the knight woman they were emptying clip after clip at the behemoth. The bullets seemed to just barely pierce the things thick flesh.

"God damn it," He turned to Vargas who was banging on his jammed mini-gun, "You mind helping out with this son of a bitch?"

"Hold on damn it!" He shouted back, the worthless piece of machinery suddenly sprung to life and began whirring as it prepared to unleash a volley of bullets. The behemoth, as if it were aware what was happening, turned to Vargas and raised it's super sledgehammer. He had no time to move. The Brotherhood of Steel knight closed his eyes tight, there was no way the damn mini-gun would fire before the thing hit him. He needed a miracle. ANYTHING AT THIS POINT WOULD BE WELCOME!

"HEY ASSHOLE!" Jericho watched, in disbelief, the young and seemingly innocent vault dweller as she was crouched by Reddin's lifeless body tossing the dead initiate's grenades at the super mutant behemoth's feet. Annoyed but unaffected, the behemoth's attention was successfully drawn away from Vargas long enough for him to fire a large burst of ammunition straight at the thing's chest.

It howled in pain as the barrage of bullets broke through his three-inch-thick skin and obliterated his mutated heart. The thing teetered forwards and backwards and fell directly on top of the fountain with an earth shattering _thud. _The kid got up and dusted herself off before bounding up to Jericho.

"Well, that was different." She laughed. Cassie lost her smile and turned to Lyons, holding out a pair of dog tags, "I'm sorry. Miss Reddin didn't make it ma'am."

Sarah took them and shook her head solemnly, "Don't be sorry, she died as a brave soldier of the Brotherhood and will go down in our history as the heroic Paladin Reddin." Cassie seemed confused by this reaction.

"What does giving her a promotion fix?" She asked in that agitated tone she normally used with Jericho, "Giving her a bright and shiny new title isn't going to make her feel better. She's still dead and I'm pretty sure dead people don't care about promotions."

Lyons let out a low growl under her breath. Something about uneducated wastoids not being able to understand or some bullshit like that.

Cassie brushed past her and approached the intercom, "Hey, anyone listening in there? The big bad beastie is dead and I have some business with the D.J.!"

____________________________________________________

_Authors note:_

_I giggle at the dad comment._

_I've never liked the Lyons. Not Sarah, not her father. Fuck 'em. When I first got to the GNR plaza and saw my first behemoth I nearly cacked myself! Since then, I love lookin' around for 'em. _

_(if you want I suggest going on you tube and looking for something along he lines of "Behemoth vs. bottle cap mines ^_^)_


	9. He wants to hit him HARD

"Ya mind if I ask what the fuck we're doing out here?" Jericho was cold, tired, and starting to wonder why Cassie had agreed to Three Dog's request to fix his shitty radio station rather than shove her hunting rifle in the D.J.'s face and demand to know where the hell her father had run off to.

"We're out here," She began fiddling with the dials on her pip-boy, "because I have to find my father…"

"About that," Jericho took the last drag on his cigarette and flicked the butt at the ground leaving it there to smolder, "Why are you looking for some guy who just up and left your ass to die in a big ass underground tomb?"

The girl turned and smiled, "It's getting dark, why don't we start a fire and camp here for the night?" She was avoiding the question and her bullshit was beginning to piss him off.

"We ain't campin' here for two reasons princess," He spat, "One: You haven't answered my question yet, and two: I can see that museum place from here so that shit ain't gonna fly."

The girl gave him her signature glare followed with a quiet, "It's personal. He's my Dad and I need to find him. What more do you need to know?"

"Look," Jericho had lost his patience and wasn't about to put up with this little kid's happy-go-lucky wild goose chase without an answer, "I follow you around riskin' my ass and putting up with mutant fucks, sluts in power armor, and holier-than-thou assholes who think their better than everyone just 'cause they have a radio transmitter and a fuck-ton of free time. I think it's about time you let me in on what the fuck's so important about finding this guy before I fuck off just like dear ol' daddy and leave your ass to rot."

Cassie was shocked and offended by the sudden outburst. She stayed quiet, unable to answer the sun burnt old raider.

"You know what? Fuck you," The disgruntled follower walked past her, "And fuck your old man too. I don't need this shit. I'm goin' back to Megaton…"

"_**Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first…**__" _Jericho halted in his tracks and turned back to the girl who was apparently playing a holotape out loud on her pip-boy, "_**I… I really don't know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand**_,"

The voice belonged to a man who was most likely the young vaultie's father, "_**but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know.**_"

Know what? He was being so vague, "_**So many things could've gone wrong and there's really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I am gone. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own." **_

If the kid was ready to be out on her own, she wouldn't be enlisting the help of a dangerous old man she'd met in a bar, "_**Maybe someday things will change and we'll be able to see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me." **_

So much for that, "_**God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going**_**."**

Another voice broke into the conversation, "_**Don't mean to rush you Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with**__._"

"_**Okay, go ahead. Goodbye sweetie… I love you**_." The holotape ended there.

Cassie had tears in her eyes, "I found this note on Jonas's body. When my dad left the Overseer went insane and had his goons beat him to death." Jericho stayed quiet. After all, he was the one who had to open his big mouth and ask, "He also sent the guards after me. I knew he was paranoid about people defying him, but I didn't think the Overseer would ever kill anyone. They tried to kill me too but a friend of mine… that psychopath's daughter, got to me first and gave me a gun," The color had gone from her cheeks and she was beginning to shake as she recalled the events of her escape from the vault, "I… I know he said not to follow him… but," those bright blue eyes of hers were glistening now as the tears poured from them, "I d-didn't know what to do… I just ran… I have to find him… I h-have to!" She was on the verge of a total break down, "I-" Jericho reached out and pulled her into his chest with a tight embrace. What kind of an asshole would leave his kid in an underground cage with a power hungry control freak?

To Jericho, it sounded like her old man was only thinking of one person, and it sure ass hell wasn't the kid. The old bastard probably knew that this Over-whatever was a paranoid dick-wad with control issues. He knew what the fucker was going to do but decided to fuck off anyway and leave his kid to her death.

Now this kid was stuck out here, in a new and terrifying place, being comforted by an admitted cold-blooded killer and attempted rapist.

"Shh…" He whispered as he rested his chin on the frightened girl's head, "I didn't know okay…" He petted her hair and waited until her crying had died down into quiet whimpers, "We'll find him, alright?"

He _wanted _to find the son of a bitch now. For some reason, Jericho really wanted to hurt the guy. He didn't want to put a bullet in his head or shove a frag grenade up his hoity-toity asshole. He just wanted to hit the man.

Hard.

"Jericho…" A muffled voice called out, "You can let go now." Realizing he still had the kid crushed against him, he laughed nervously and released her from his grip, "Y-you aren't still going to leave me are you?" She asked smiling weakly.

He liked it when she smiled.

At least, he liked it hell of a lot more than he liked her crying, "Nah kid."

Maybe he wanted to hit her father because of all the bullshit he had to endure because of him, "I ain't leavin' your side."

Maybe he felt like hitting him because he made the girl break down like that, "Let's go get that god damned satellite dish for Tree Frog or whatever the fuck his name is."

Maybe he was beginning to like being with this kid, "Then we'll go and find your dad."

Maybe he was sick of watching those eyes of hers die a little with each passing day.

She smiled even wider and bounced off towards the museum, "You're the best ! I love you, Jericho!"

And maybe, he wanted her to mean that.

________________________________________________________

Author's note: Sorry for the late update… I recently had a two day celebration of my 19th birthday and went out to collect furniture for my new room in my new home.

Jericho is developing a little crush on the Vaultie it seems. 3

However, the girl is to naïve to realize it, so the love is unrequited for now. *teardrop* (Women tend to throw that word love around at anything that makes them insanely happy, poor Jerri.)

I was unsure how to proceed for a bit. Originally I was going to have a drunk moment with the BOS but decided against it. Then I thought, "Hey, Jerri doesn't know what the fuck they're runnin' about for, now does he?" So I wrote this.

I hope to get back on track with the daily updates.


	10. The smell of dead bodies

"Okay, connect this here… Move that there…" Cassie muttered as she fiddled with the satellite relay at the top of the Washington monument. Obtaining the dish from the Virgo II was a relatively easier task than Jericho would have thought. He had been expecting some big ass maze filled to the brim with super mutants and booby traps. In reality there were only a handful of muties, a couple staircases, and one dull-as-shit Vault life tour.

"Got it!" The girl sang out as she connected the last few cables. She brought up her pip-boy an tuned in to Galaxy News radio. Three Dog's voice was ringing through clear as day as the over-zealous D.J. cheered and praised the girl for fixing his lousy radio station.

"Will you shut that asshole off," Jericho snapped glaring at the wrist-bound device, "His voice is giving me a headache!"

Cassie switched off her radio and yawned, "I just wanted to make sure it was working," she looked at her pip-boy again and shrugged, "When did it become two in the morning?" the girl stretched and breathed out a heavy sigh, "I'm beat after all that running around."

"Well there is a bed here…" He motioned to the filthy mattress lying on the floor and grinned back at her, "Of course… We _would_ have to share princess."

The kid's eyes narrowed, "I believe a saw a ghoul on patrol on our way here… Gob did say something about a city near here," She walked back to the elevator and pushed the button, "Maybe they have a hotel."

"A city of them rotten zombie fucks?" Jericho shuddered at the thought. He wasn't afraid of ghouls but they were probably the one thing he'd like to refrain from touching if he could help it. The only reason he could stand Gob was because he was always drunk when he was around the leathery bastard, "You mean you really want to sleep in a bed one of them have been in? The sheets would probably be all gooey and shit."

The vaultie spun on her heels, "None of that when we get to that ghoul place okay?" He muttered some curse under his breath and looked away, "Hey… don't do that," She reached up and gently placed a hand on his unshaven face, "I need you to be polite to them while we're there okay."

He couldn't stand this contact. Ever since the kid had offhandedly said that she loved him, Jericho had been acting like that dumbass ghoulie Gob. Just a few weeks ago he would have torn that ass up had it suited him, in fact he almost did that night they'd crossed paths in front of his shack.

But now look at him, putty in the hands of a girl at least half his age. Pathetic.

"Promise me, kay?" Cassie withdrew her hand and walked into the elevator as the doors slid open, "I don't want to get into any unnecessary fights."

Jericho stalked in after her and pounded the button for the ground floor, "Whatever kid, but if I stay in a place like that too long I'm going to have to kill somebody."

Neither of them said another word about it on their way down in the elevator and things stayed tense until they made it to the Museum of Natural History.

Much to Jericho's displeasure, the girl was right about there being a ghoul city nearby. It was a place called Underworld, properly named too. The place was swarming with those leathery flesh bags and smelled like a pile of bodies that had been left in the water too long. It made Jericho's skin crawl.

Cassie, however, didn't seem to notice the smell of decaying corpses and was in awe of the place, "Wow! Look at that statue! It's so cool! And look at all these ghouls, this place is amazing!" Whatever fatigue she had been experiencing back at the monument seemed to have disappeared. He couldn't understand why the kid was so starry-eyed and excited, they were just a bunch of zombies.

"Hey Jericho, why don't you go find us a hotel room," She tossed him a sack full of caps, "I'm going to explore!" Before he could even get a syllable out the girl had zipped off up the stairs leaving him alone in the middle of his worst nightmare.

He stood in the entrance way of the Underworld and looked around. One of these… _people had to know where he could get a room. Trouble was, he didn't very much like the idea of having to talk to these disgusting maggot farms._

_Jericho clenched his teeth and put away his Chinese assault rifle as he tried to determine which of these ghouls looked the most human. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by the familiar sound of jets propelling something large and metallic through the city._

_It was a Gutsy._

_Jericho hated robots with a fiery passion. They were clumsy, loud, and tough as shit to kill. But under the circumstances, robots were much easier on the eyes than these abominations, "Hey. Metal guy. Come here."_

_The Gutsy flew over and responded in a metallic military tone, "The name is Cerberus civilian, and I don't need to take shit from you. I have enough to deal with protecting these disgusting creatures."_

"_If you don't like 'em why protect 'em?" Jericho asked quietly, hoping that none of the ghouls were eavesdropping. It'd really put that girl's panties in a knot if he got into a brawl._

"_It's this damn combat inhibitor," Cerberus shot back disdainfully, "If this thing ever breaks the first thing I'm going to do is send all these rotten bastards to hell," It hovered quietly for a moment, "You don't seem to like them either. What's keeping you from exacting my fantasy?"_

"_Not that it's any of your fuckin' business but I have a combat inhibitor too… That idiot girl I came in here with has a soft spot for these freaks. If it weren't for her I'd shoot that inhibitor right off you," He growled, "Anyway, you know where I can find a place to bed down?"_

"_That'd be Carol's civilian. Top of the stairs on the right. Move along," The Gutsy jetted past Jericho and resumed it's little patrol._

"_Whatever," He muttered under his breath before following the thing's directions to the hotel. The ghoul woman inside was sickeningly kind to him and offered him a bed that was fenced off from the others, as if she sensed his hostility towards her type. It cost him one hundred and twenty caps, but the best she could do was offer him one bed that could hold two people, which meant that he and the kid would still have to share._

_Jericho had no problem with that._

_He shut the partition that separated their area from the other creepy zombie bastards they were sharing the room with and sprawled out on the bed. He decided to wait for the kid. After all, she'd probably be back soon enough. Then they could get some sleep and move on. No more museums. No more stupid requests. No more ghoul infested cities. Just go and find her prick hole of a dad._

_For now the best thing to do would be to rest up and forget this place even existed. The bed he was on wasn't too comfortable but at least it wasn't gooey. Maybe he could fall asleep here… _

_If he could just get over that smell._

______________________________________________

_Author's note: The next chapter will handle the hiring of dear old Charon. Although you're not supposed to have more than one follower (I'm not counting Butch) I'm going to have him travel along with Jerri and The Vaultie. It'd put a nice strain on things wouldn't it? _

_*grins wickedly*_


	11. Fucking Smoothskins

When that smoothskin walked into the Ninth Circle, Charon had to blink to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He'd seen smoothskins many times on his travels with one of his former employers, back in the days before Ahzrukhal had purchased his contract. Still, it was rare to see one willingly wander into the Underworld, especially one so young and innocent looking.

The girl who had stumbled in was beaming around the room as if everything in there were shiny and new. It were as if she couldn't see what kind of place this really was. It was a den of thieves, druggies, liars, and opportunists.

Rather than take the sensible route and run as far away as she could from this awful place, she took her time and greeted each of the residents. She asked them weird or stupid questions about what it was like living in a city of ghouls or what it was like to be a ghoul, things like that.

The patrons didn't seem to mind her barrage of questions concerning ghoul life. In fact they seemed amused by it. One by one, the girl walked around the bar asking her silly questions and smiling and nodding and acting like she had no problems with the way that any of them looked. After she had had her fill of information about the daily lives of the barely living she turned towards the door and looked as if she were about to leave.

Then she spotted Charon.

The girl bounced up to the much taller ghoul, grinning from ear to ear, "Hi my name's---"

"Talk to Ahzrukhal." He grunted. It wasn't his place to talk to the customers even if they were the one's who approached him and he wasn't really comfortable with the idea of talking to this smoothskin anyway. She seemed overly cheery and cheery wasn't a very fitting attitude to have in a place like the Ninth Circle.

"But I---"

"Talk. To. Ahzrukhal." The girl squinted at him for a moment, as if she were trying to interpret his words. Like they were some language foreign to her, something other than plain fucking English.

"And Ahzrukhal is…" He nodded towards the bar and mumbled something unintelligible. She looked at the ghoul in the white suit, tending the bar then back at Charon, "I will get you to talk to me you know."

He said nothing, just watched her as she waltzed up to the bar and began conversing with the corrupt ghoul. Why did she want to talk to him so bad anyway?

"What'll it be?" Ahzrukhal motioned toward his large assortment of scavenged alcohol and offered a lipless grin, "Not too often we get a smoothskin 'round here, and it's never a woman…"

"What's with that guy in the corner?" She leaned over the bar and tugged at her golden hair absent-mindedly in an attempt to coax information through utilizing her feminine charms. The girl was obviously uncomfortable using her body this way, but Ahzrukhal said it himself. It was rare for a girl like her to come through Underworld.

"That's my boy Charon," The old ghoul laughed letting his eyes trace over her, "He's not one for conversation but a loyal employee."

"Employee? You pay him?" She asked, there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"We have an understanding."

"Oh I see…" The girl glanced back at Charon with sad eyes and in a low tone asked, "Is he a slave then?"

"Watch your mouth girl!" He snapped drawing the girl's attention back to his employer. It made Charon tense up. Usually when his voice got like that he would issue orders to "remove" his problem. He really didn't want to kill someone so young.

The order didn't come, although the vicious bastard did give him a look that suggested he was considering it. Instead Ahzrukhal calmed himself down and chuckled, "I hold his contract… Charon is completely loyal to whoever holds it."

"What do I have to do to get this contract?" He listened as they bartered over his life. She said a thousand caps. He said make it two thousand or she could always do him a favor. There was no doubt in his mind any favor done for Ahzrukhal would result in someone's death The girl appeared to understand what he meant by favor as well because she sighed and pulled out a sack full of caps, "Well, I was going to use this to by a med-center for my home… but I'd rather lose my caps than my soul..."

Ahzrukhal snatched up her money greedily and dropped a weathered strip of paper onto the bar. The girl picked the paper up and glared, "This just says 'a piece of paper with writing on it'. I'd like the real contract."

"That _is_ the contract." He snapped tucking her money away in his pocket, "Trust me, it may not make sense but it's the real thing. Show it to him and he's all yours." The smoothskin gave him a distrustful look before cautiously walking back to Charon's corner.

"H-hey…" She pulled held up the piece of paper, "Is this your contract? If it is, it doesn't make much sense to me."

Charon looked at his contract and felt a surge of electricity shoot to his fingertips. Ahzrukhal shouldn't have given away his contract like that. The towering ghoul walked over to his former employer, "Yes Charon, it's true. Have you come to say goodbye?"

He looked at the man who he had been protecting for all of these years. The man who forced him to do horrific things to good people, "Yes," he replied simply as he offered him his formal goodbye. Two gunshots to the face.

The first was enough to kill him. The second was just for the fun of it.

"W-What the hell was that about?!" The girl shouted. She was shaking and looking up at him with frightened eyes, "Wasn't he your boss?"

"Ahzrukhal was an evil bastard. He deserved worse than he got," He bent down and pulled the girl's caps off of his former employer's dead, rotting corpse and tossed them to her, "But you are my employer now. And for good or ill, I serve you."

This news brought no comfort to the girl who crossed her arms defensively and asked in a meek voice, "If I ever dismiss you… will you kill me too?"

Just as he was about to answer, another smoothskin, an older sun-burnt male, burst through the doors brandishing a Chinese assault rifle that was trained straight at him.

"Cassie, you alright kid?" The man shouted, "I heard gunshots, this fucker hurt you?"

Charon aimed his combat shotgun at the intruding man's head. His finger was itching to pull the trigger again.

"Hold it… Both of you." The girl, he had called her Cassie, reached out and grabbed both men's weapons, "Please…"

The sun-burnt man grunted and slung his rifle over his shoulder, "You gonna get your fuckin gun out of my face you sick zombie fuck?"

"Jericho!" The girl snapped slapping the man on the arm and nodding for Charon to put his shotgun away.

"Are you sure you don't want me to dispose of this… person?" He gestured at the rude asshole who had insulted him, hoping that maybe this girl would reconsider and let him blow his fucking brains out, "As long as you hold my contract I will do whatever you wish. All you have to do is give the order."

Jericho flipped off big and ugly and turned to the kid, "Ya mind telling me what the fuck is going on here and what this leathery dick-wad is talkin' about? What contract?"

"Jericho," She said again in a warning tone, "I want you to treat my new friend here with respect. He's coming with us."

She was joking, right? The kid knew how he felt about these shuffler freaks. There's no way in hell she would drag one along knowing how much he hated them. He couldn't help but laugh, "Cute kid, real fucking cute. Now say goodbye to your… _friend_ and let's get back to the hotel," He grabbed her rather forcefully by the arm and pulled her towards the entrance, "I'll be damned if I have to carry your ass back to GNR just 'cause you didn't get some sleep."

Charon reached out a muscle-exposed hand and pulled the older man off of his new employer with an animal-like growl.

"What's your fucking problem?" He spat, pushing the tall ghoul backwards, "Look we don't need your maggoty-ass following' us around! The kid and I get along fine by our fucking selves!"

"I'm afraid I don't take orders from you," Charon growled, if this man pushed him again… orders or not someone was going to have their brains splattered on the walls, "My employer says I am to join you so that is what I will do, and it's not like you could force me to leave."

Jericho looked as if he were about to take a swing at the ghoul when Cassie, having had enough of the macho-pissing contest, decided to speak up, "Jericho, CLAM IT!" He looked as if he were about to tell her to fuck off but decided against it, "Charon here is coming with me, got it? If you don't like that, _there's_ the fucking door."

An uncomfortable silence crept through the room. Jericho looked at the kid, then at the freak. An ultimatum? It occurred to him that he really _could_ leave right then and there. Hell, he would have left before if the girl didn't start crying on him. What the fuck was he staying for anyway? Just because a little girl who can't tell her ass from her elbows has a nice ass and off-handedly says, "I love you," doesn't mean he has to risk his ass and travel with zombies against his will.

"You know what kid," The old man said, breaking the cold silence, "Fine."

"Fine… F-fine what?" Her tone seemed harsh but he could tell the brat was worried. She didn't want him to leave despite her little tough-girl act.

"Fine," Jericho said again crossing his arms and staring daggers into the ghoul, "I'll come with, but I sure as hell ain't gonna like it."

"Thank you Jericho…" He couldn't leave her, not with this asshole. He'd probably eat her the moment he left them alone. Or at least… that's what he told himself, "We'll set out for GNR tomorrow. Right now," She stretched and that heart-warming smile returned to her young face, "I'm more interested in that hotel room…"

As the girl left them in search of a soft bed, Jericho found himself staring at Charon and vice versa.

"Look," He spat in a low tone patting at his pockets for a pack of smokes, "That girl there, you leave her alone, you hear me?" Charon just glared and said nothing, "You can follow her orders as much as you damn well please, but if you touch her… or me for that matter," Jericho paused as he reached in his pocket for his lighter, "Let's just say… my trigger finger's been feeling awful slippery." Without another word he lit his cigarette and pushed through the doors.

Charon, unaffected by the man's feeble attempt at a death threat, sighed as his former employer's pooling blood reached the edges of his feet.

"Fucking smoothskins."

_________________________

Author's note: Meh… Had writer block but awesome reviews and a week of playing Fallout made me Squee and write up this chapter.

(I like to get reviews)

First off I am not anti-ghoul or anti-Fawkes. I lurve thems! So ignore any shuffler or zombie talk (although I must admit… I kinda like the term shuffler)!

Second: I like reader input… Where do _you want me to go with this?_

_Third: Xanophillius Nacindo Dulliante (a.k.a. the writer of the review that got me off my ass): I never got dogmeat on my way to Minefield (I always freak out and assume he's gonna set 'em all off.) Also I hope to make the vaultie less of a good girl soon… (I just gotta figure out a way to get her and Jericho together… DAMMIT I WANT HIM TO NAIL HER!)_

_*ahem*…. Er… *cough cough*_

_Also I want Charon to be a complete jerk off in this… (kinda because I'm getting sick of all the "hurt puppy" Charon fics… Where's it written that he has to be a tortured soul? Maybe he wants to do some torturing ^_^)_


	12. A terrible mistake

WARNING:

Contains a bit of bow-chika-wow-wow. ^_^

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It was a long trip back to the Galaxy News Radio building. Not long in the sense of distance or time, but in the way that it felt. Ever since the three of them had left the ghoul inhabited city of Underworld, Jericho's teeth had been on edge. Despite his warning, Charon had been following the kid a little too close for comfort. The girl didn't seem to notice, but she hardly noticed anything that was going on around her. Probably thought he was another wounded puppy like that idiot Gob and in need of a little sympathy.

Dumb kid.

When they had arrived at Three Dog's studio, he greeted them with a loud cheer and a toothy grin, "You did it. Boy, I knew I chose right when I asked you to help me out girl. You just played an important role in helping me fight the _good_ fight."

"Yeah, yeah whoop-D-fuckin'-do!" Jericho spat, the man never had much patience and what little he did have was depleted by the mere presence of Cassie's new playmate, "Now where the hell's the kid's dad," The D.J. went to open his mouth only to be interrupted with, "And so help me, if you ask for another favor I'll kill you with a god damn _bobby pin_."

Three Dog just shook his head, still grinning like mad, "No, no more favors. You have done enough for me already. It'd only be fair to tell you where James went."

Cassie, beaming at the prospect of learning her father's location stepped up eagerly and asked, "C-could you please tell me? I," Her eyes began tearing up hopefully, "I really want to see him again."

"Now, now, hold the water works girl," He reached out a hand to comfort the girl but, after getting threatening looks from both Charon and Jericho, withdrew it, "He went south."

"South?" She repeated.

"South?" Jericho hissed, "You better start givin' us a hell of a lot more than just _south_ before I spill your worthless guts all over the floor."

"Rivet City," He added coldly, "That good enough for you?"

The girl turned to look at her followers, "Is that far?"

"Girl, it's about as far south as you can go without losing my signal," Three Dog answered nodding towards his now functional equipment.

"I… I see," She brought up her pip-boy and examined the location of Rivet City, "That is pretty far…" Her voice was so low Jericho found he had to lean in to hear it.

"Tell you what girl," Three Dog offered an encouraging smile, "Why don't you and your pals stay here for the night? Help yourself to anything I've got and rest up!"

Cassie wiped her eyes and nodded, "We might as well… If," She turned and looked at Jericho and Charon, letting those baby-blue eyes of hers dig into their very souls, "it's alright with you guys."

Both men nodded and offered an unintelligible mumble of agreement, looking away from her.

"Great!" Three Dog cheered opening his arms wide in an inviting manner, "Help yourselves to whatever. I have booze. I have food. I have beds. Enjoy yourselves while you still can!"

_ _ _

Three Dog had told them to do as they pleased and that is exactly what everyone did. After eating up all of his sugar bombs and snack cakes Cassie had gone off to bed, Charon had gone off to do god knows what, and Jericho had about four bottles of scotch.

And now he was working on his fifth.

As he slowly drank himself stupid he pondered his current situation. Not too long ago he had been contemplating suicide, an act he still fully intended to commit someday if the mood struck him. In fact he had even brought the teddy bear with him as a reminder, tucked safely away inside his pack right next to where he kept his ammo.

He kept thinking of that little girl's eyes, so empty and broken… without hope. They were so much like the kid's eyes that it frightened him. The only difference was she still had something human left in them and he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone rip that away. He wanted her eyes to sparkle again, the way they did when she said…

He took another sip.

Damn it… he was lingering on that bullshit again. He knew the kid didn't mean a word by it. She was just being a stupid girl saying stupid things to a washed up old drunk. But with every sip of scotch he got to thinking about that night outside of his shack in that dump of a town, Megaton.

He should have taken her then. He should've just ripped her clothes apart and fucked her right there in the street. That way, at least, she would have been out of his system and he could have gone back to his daily routine of getting piss drunk in Moriarty's.

He took another sip.

Yeah. That would've been perfect. Tell the bitch to sit and spin and screw her until she got dizzy before tossing her ass out over the rail and knocking back a cold one. A master-fucking-plan.

He gulped down the rest of his scotch and angrily staggered into a standing position. That's what he was going to do. He was going to go and get that stupid little vault whore out of his system, whether she liked it or not. And god help him, he was going to _make_ her like it.

Cassie lay stretched out on the filthy mattress Three Dog had provided for her to sleep on, her armor abandoned in the corner, leaving her in naught but her underclothes, "Oh well…" she sighed, "At least it's better than the bunk beds those Brotherhood guys use." She lifted her arm and let the faint blue light of the pip-boy fill her eyes. Rivet City seemed so far away. Deep down she knew that when she got there her father would have probably run off to some other dangerous and far off location. Why was she even going after him? As Jericho had pointed out countless times before, he had essentially abandoned her. She was sure he ran off to do something important but he couldn't have told her or even asked her to join him?

She felt tears threatening to surface and let her arm fall beside her, it'd probably be better if she didn't think about it.

"Kid, I gotta talk to you." She snapped up, startled by the familiar voice of Jericho.

"W-what is it, can't it wait until morning?" The girl asked wiping her eyes and making sure he hadn't caught her crying.

"No, it can't," The smell of liquor hit her like a ton of bricks as the drunken ex-raider stumbled towards her, "If I wait any longer I'm gonna fuckin' EXPLODE!" He shouted falling forward and catching himself on the edge of her bed.

"Jericho, what's the matter with you?" She snapped scooting herself further back on the bed until she was sitting against the wall, "You can't come in here drunk and yell at me because I'm not going to listen. So why don't you sleep off whatever it is you drank and-"

"Shut the fuck up," He growled crawling onto the bed on all fours and glaring into those god damn eyes of hers, "Every time you open your mouth it fuckin' _kills_."

Frightened, she hopped up from the bed and took a few steps back, "What are you talking about?"

"Damn brat," He picked himself up and tried his best not to teeter slightly, "Acting like you're so fucking _innocent_. I know damn… well…" Jericho grabbed the terrified vault girl and slammed her into the dirty brick wall, pressing his body up against hers. Her stomach seemed to be doing back flips, it was the same feeling she had gotten when he had her bent over in Moriarty's bar and again when he had assaulted her outside his shack.

"Please," She whined, she couldn't believe he was trying this again. Slowly, a rough hand traveled up her soft and delicate skin, underneath the thin layer of cloth, and forced her to gasp slightly as the pad of his thumb brushed over an already erect nipple, "D-Don't." She closed her eyes tight as he ground himself against her, her face turning a deep shade of red. Her body wasn't listening to her mental cries to resist and instead a small throbbing sensation was beginning to develop in her nethers. Jericho, taking in her reaction like a breath of fresh air, couldn't help but smile.

"You like this don't you?" He asked with a particularly high level of venom in his voice, "Being touched by someone like me. Is that what gets you _hot_?" The older man's other hand gripped the girl's supple ass firmly as he thrust himself against her, his growing erection straining through his armor. Cassie was biting down on her bottom lip in an attempt to force back a moan.

Her fragile blue eyes opened again to meet his hungry grey ones. Every time he exhaled she could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath, it was sickening. The tears she had fought to suppress earlier had found their way out and were streaming down her pale face. He brought his lips close to hers, not quite close enough to touch though. He wanted to tease her, to coax her into wanting to kiss him. She felt as his thumb slowly circled her nipple, palm squeezing the large orb as he leaned forward and kissed her neck. Now she could still feel his hard member against her. She found herself wanting to relieve the throbbing she felt, and wanting him inside her. But the girl was rubbing herself against him now, her breath hitching further as the fog inside her head clouded every last hint of her better judgment. Right now she didn't care that what he was doing was wrong. Her primal urges had taken over leaving her a mere shell of herself.

It were as if it were someone else. Jericho guided the now willing woman towards the bed and was on top of her in one fluid motion, tearing apart her underclothes and placing his warm, wet lips on one of her pale and sensitive nipples. This new sensation sent a shiver through the girl's body causing her to arch up into him as he licked and sucked at her tender flesh. Meanwhile, Jericho's hands were busy fumbling hurriedly with his own clothing as he frantically rushed to reveal himself.

He sat himself up, straddling the frail creature, as he pulled his armor off of his body bit by bit and abandoned it on the cold concrete floor. Cassie seemed to be in awe of him as her eyes drifted over his tan muscular body. There were small lighter colored scars mapping across his skin, like a history of his life out in the wasteland. There were bullet wounds, knife wounds, bite marks, some human, some not so much. She briefly wondered what kind of life he had as a raider before having her thoughts interrupted.

"I need you to say it again."

The heavily panting girl looked up at him with a confused expression, "Say what?"

Jericho positioned himself atop the girl, the tip of his now fully erect manhood practically knocking at her entrance, "Do you want me?"

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, "Y-yes. I want you."

"Then you _have _to say it again," He pleaded, barely able to hold himself back. All he needed was to hear those words again. Whether they had any meaning in them or not, "You have to say you love me Cassandra."

"I… I love you… Jericho," She breathed against his as she rubbed herself against him.

Jericho's heart fluttered as the words escaped her mouth, it was barely a whisper but it was all he needed to let himself go. Her fingers grabbed the edges of the bed and her knuckles damn near turned white, she bit down and tried to prevent from crying out but without success.

"Oh… uh……..Guh-GOD!"

She felt the large head slip past her labia lips and into her opening. At that moment, despite wanting penetration, she wanted it out. Too much, it was too much...Yet it was time, her body wanted it, resolution, fulfillment. She had wanted a large, throbbing and growing organ within her. He came closer as he slowly, carefully, pushed it inside her. Watching her face for pain, he was careful not to cause her more then what was necessary. For a first time, of course it would be rather uncomfortable and it was her first time, there was no mistaking that.

But what could he have expected? She had lived her whole life in an underground bunker with nothing but brainwashing fuck-tards who made her wear a fucking jumpsuit her whole damn life and probably discouraged any form of sexual expression. Normally, just thinking about it would have been the sort of thing that would piss Jericho off. But right now all of his thoughts and emotions seemed to be replaced with a bright white light leaving no fucking room for his brain to process such things as anger.

In a quick, fluid motion, he broke her hymen and destroyed what innocence she had left. Though only slightly larger than average, he felt like a god damn giant to her. As he pushed inside, she felt as though he would never end as he went deeper, and deeper until he was in up to the hilt. The girl panted and breathed with difficulty, tears coming to her eyes...It was too much...The large man pinning her down, surrounding her with himself, draping over her small and fragile frame with his surprising muscle and build.

It was too late for either of them now. He began thrusting into her, slowly at first but picking up speed as her virgin body lost its resistance and rubbing up against her clit with every thrust. An overwhelming sense of pleasure overtook the poor vault girl, she needed more.

"P-please… Jeri..cho," She pleaded, "I need… muh-MORE!"

Her hand reached up behind Jericho's head and pulled him straight down into a rough kiss as she began pushing herself against him, trying to get as much of the man as she could inside her body. He was tearing into her now, thrusting violently as he felt himself reaching climax and forcing the girl to hold on for dear life. He felt the girl tightening around him and gave her one final aggressive thrust as he let out a bestial roar and spilled his seed inside of her.

"Holy fuck kid," He moaned as he rolled off of her breathing heavily, an elated smile spreading across his weathered face.

Cassie stayed motionless, staring at the ceiling. She was in disbelief. What the hell just happened? What the hell did she just let him do?

Both the vault girl and Jericho were too tired to notice that the door to the room was open just a crack. Had they noticed, they may have spied a pair of glass-looking eyes peering at them from the other side.

Charon's face was fixed in a frown. He had arrived sometime while that asshole Jericho had his employer pinned to the wall but rather than follow through with his contract and rush in to protect her, he had decided to sit in the hallway and watch. He wasn't a pervert or anything but an idea had hit him. If he wanted that fucker Jericho gone, he'd need his employer to throw him out. And in order to do that, he would have to make the girl _hate him._

_Judging by the girl's shocked and slightly disgusted expression, it seemed like it would prove to be an easy task. Charon gave one more sickened look in the direction of his master and the asshole who just had his way with her before leaving the hallway to find his own place to spend the night. _

_Holy fuck indeed._

____________________________________________

_Authors note: Um… This is my first time writing up a sex scene… so I hope I didn't disappoint._

_I'd like to thank Kungfuwarrior whose idea made me foam at the mouth like a rabid dogmeat. Hee hee… _

_Just to let you know… things probably won't be all cuddly/lovey-dovey. Not between Jerri and Vaultie anyway… (Charon you cock-blocking asshole ^_^)_

_I figure… Vaultie views this as a mistake. Jericho wants more… Then comes alienation, excommunication, running into the arms of a seemingly concerned ghoulie, blah-D-freakin-dah._

_Tell me what you guys all think…_


End file.
